Aliens at My Table - Asians as New Zealanders See Them

Penguin, Auckland, 2005. First edition. Advance copy with review sticker inside front cover. Cover has minor creasing and a couple of spots. Contents clean and tight with no inscriptions. 168pp.
This book sets out to provoke a radical rethinking of some of the deep-seated and subconscious attitudes towards 'Asians' and Asia held by many New Zealanders, as reflected in cartoons of the past 140 years. Cartoons are powerful visual images which have an immediacy greater than that of words. Many New Zealanders are now grappling with understanding the issues behind 'bad Asian drivers', 'rising property prices', 'student criminals'. These issues go back 150 years to the arrival of the first Chinese, towards the end of the Gold Rushes. Our attitude to Asians as the essential outsider has undergone little change since then. New Asian immigrants cannot understand our prejudice, or where it comes from. Using political cartoons, this book examines New Zealanders' attitudes to Asians from the 1850s until the present day. The cartoons are arranged thematically and chronologically, accompanied by explanatory text. Each chapter has an introductory preface, with a major preface.